1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a system for self-assembly of cigarettes, having a stuffing device and a tobacco pack, and to a corresponding stuffing device and to a corresponding tobacco pack.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
The simplest way, as far as the equipment used is concerned, of assembling a cigarette oneself is to “roll” a cigarette using loose tobacco, a cigarette-paper sheet, which is adhesively bonded along a longitudinal seam once a cigarette strand has been formed, and possibly using a filter. Even if straightforward auxiliary means are used, this method for self-assembly of cigarettes is laborious for the user and leads to the surroundings being contaminated by pieces of tobacco.
Numerous devices have been devised over time in order to facilitate the self-assembly of cigarettes. A recent example of such a device is disclosed in US 2004/0099277 A1. Here, loose tobacco is poured into a hopper-like storage magazine, measured, compressed in a pressing chamber and conveyed into a prefabricated cigarette-paper tube. Although this device is convenient in principle it involves high outlay and operates with loose tobacco, which is associated with the risk of contamination.
EP 0 584 805 B1 describes a device which is intended for self-assembly of a cigarette and which makes use of pre-divided smoking tobacco. The tobacco portions provided for a respective cigarette either have a respective wrapper, in which case they are connected adjacent to one another in a rod-like manner to form a block, or they are enclosed by a common wrapper to form a block. These wrappers consist of highly porous material which can be smoked as well. In the device, such a block is inserted with a longitudinal side in front into a magazine which is arranged above the introduction opening of a pressing chamber. By virtue of pressure being applied to the block, the respectively lowermost tobacco portion is conveyed into the pressing chamber, where, after being cut off from the rest of the block with the aid of a cutting blade, it is formed into a tobacco strand by a pressing bar which can be moved in the transverse direction. This tobacco strand is then pushed, by means of a pushing-action mechanism out of the pressing chamber and into a cigarette-paper tube arranged upstream of the pressing chamber. The disadvantage here is that the porous wrapping material, which is likewise severed by the cutting blade, also passes into the cigarette-paper tube. Furthermore, the wrapping material is loose enough for it likewise easily to result in contamination if it is not used quite correctly.
A similarly designed device for self-assembly of cigarettes is known from U.S. Pat. No. 2,731,971, from U.S. Pat. No. 3,127,900 and from U.S. Pat. No. 4,411,278. In these cases, however, loose tobacco is poured directly into the introduction opening of the pressing chamber. The cutting blade is connected rigidly to the pressing bar, but precedes the latter. If the user pivots an actuating lever, which a mechanism connects to the pressing bar and the cutting element and to the pushing-action mechanism, the cutting element cuts off excess tobacco and closes the pressing chamber on the top side, while the pressing bar then compresses the tobacco and the resulting tobacco strand, finally, is transferred by the pushing-action mechanism into a cigarette-paper tube plugged onto an attachment neck upstream of the pressing chamber. According to U.S. Pat. No. 4,411,278 the pushing-action mechanism is designed as an elongate tongue. This device, once again, has the disadvantage of the risk of contamination, and the task of introducing the loose tobacco for each individual cigarette is a laborious one.
EP 0 178 605 B1 and DE 39 14 669 C2, for example, describe devices and methods for self-assembly of cigarettes in which the tobacco intended for smoking is pre-divided in the form of tobacco cartridges. The tobacco here is enclosed by a non-smokeable sheath. In order to make a cigarette, the tobacco is transferred from the tobacco cartridge into a cigarette-paper tube, in which case the sheath of the tobacco cartridge is left behind. DE 101 29 260 C1 discloses an easy-to-handle stuffing device with the aid of which the tobacco can be transferred from such a tobacco cartridge into a cigarette-paper tube. In the case of these known systems, the waste, on account of the sheaths of the individual tobacco cartridges, is disadvantageous.